| 释义 |
hatchet, n.|ˈhætʃɪt|
Forms: 4–6 hachet, 4 acchett, hachit, 5 hachytt, hacchet, 6 hach-, hatchette, 5– hatchet (7 -ed).
[a. F. hachette fem. (13th c. hacete in Littré), dim. f. hache axe. In 15th c., F. had also hachet (masc.).]
1. A smaller or lighter axe with a short handle, adapted for use with one hand.
1375Barbour Bruce x. 174 A ȝheman..suld dryf the vayn, and ber Ane hachit, that war scharp to scher, Vndir his belt. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 304 Alle þat bereþ..Axe, oþer hachet [C. iv. 362 acchett]. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 94 Men hewez with a hacchet aboute þe fote of þe tree. 1474Caxton Chesse 61 He ought to haue on his gyrdel a sharpe or crokyd hatchet. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 11 b, Axes, Hatchettes, and Sithes, of all sortes. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) II. 114 The Indians..knocked the poor Maid down with their Hatchets, and gave her many Wounds. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 95 The Hatchet..is to Hew the Irregularities off such pieces of Stuff which may be sooner Hewn than Sawn. 1851D. Wilson Preh. Ann. I. vi. 184 Hatchets or wedges are among the most abundant..relics of the Stone period.
2. Phrases. † to hang up one's hatchet: to cease from one's labours; to take a rest. Obs. to take or dig up the hatchet: to take up arms in warfare, to commence hostilities. to bury the hatchet: to lay down one's arms; to cease from hostilities. (These two phrases are derived from the customs of the North American Indians.) to throw (fling, sling) the hatchet: to make exaggerated statements. See also helve and bury v. 2 a.
a1327Pol. Songs (Camden) 223 Hang up thyn hachet ant thi knyf, Whil him lasteth the lyf with the longe shonkes. c1430Hymns Virg. (1867) 69 Hange up þin hachet & take þi reste. c1530R. Hilles Common-Pl. Bk. (1858) 140 When thou hast well done hang up thy hatchet. 1753G. Washington Jrnl. Writ. 1889 I. 21 Three Nations of French Indians..had taken up the Hatchet against the English. 1780G. Parker Life's Painter xii. 85 Many..habituate themselves by degrees to a mode of the hatchet⁓flinging extreme. 1794J. Jay Corr. & Pub. Papers (1893) IV. 147 To use an Indian figure, may the hatchet henceforth be buried for ever. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 219 The chiefs met; the amicable pipe was smoked, the hatchet buried, and peace formally proclaimed. 1893T. B. Foreman Trip to Spain 97 The ladies titter, knowing, as we do, the skipper's habit of slinging the hatchet.
3. attrib. and Comb., as hatchet-edge, hatchet-head, hatchet-work; hatchet-like adj.; hatchet-fashion adv.; hatchet-face, a narrow and very sharp face: so hatchet-fist, -jaw; hatchet-faced a., having a hatchet-face: so hatchet-headed a.; hatchet fish, a member of the family Gasteropelecidæ, South American flying characins which are often kept in aquaria, or one of the family Sternoptychidæ, deep-sea clupeiform fishes found in most of the oceans of the world; also hatchet ellipt.; † hatchet-fitch (vetch), a leguminous plant, Securigera Coronilla = ax-fitch; hatchet-job, -work (see hatchet-man 3); hatchet-stake, a small anvil for bending thin sheet metal.
1858H. Miller Cruise Betsy vi. 98 The Scuir..resembled a sharp *hatchet-edge presented to the sky.
1650–66Wharton Wks. (1683) 389 Their Prodigious Ears, Short Hair, and *Hatchet-Faces. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 372 A Lanthorn Jaw'd Woman, with a Hatchet Face. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. (1871) II. 351 They had pulled him about and called him Hatchet-face!
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Hatchet-fac'd, Hard-favor'd, Homely. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 12 A thin hatchet⁓faced gentleman, with projecting eyes like a lobster.
1798Sporting Mag. XII. 18 A most violent and unexpected blow of his *hatchet fist.
1597Gerarde Herbal ii. d. 1055 *Hatchet Fetches. Ibid. 1057 In English, Axseed, Axwoort, Ax-fitch, and Hatchet Fitch. 1829–55Loudon's Encycl. Plants 638 Hatchet Vetch.
1931J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes xii. 231 (caption) *Hatchet-fish (Argyropelecus sp.). 1959P. Capon Amongst those Missing 196 Hatchet-fish skimmed the water. 1960M. Burton Under Sea xi. 198 Another consumer of small prey is the ‘hatchet’ fish, so called because its body is flattened from side-to-side... For the most part hatchets are only a few inches long. 1962K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyology ii. 36 Family Sternoptychidae—deepsea hatchet fishes.
1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 322 The heavy-shouldered, *hatchet⁓headed, zebra-striped brute before him.
1836H. G. Knight Archit. Tour Normandy xxiii. 199 The most common mouldings are the billet, the nail-head, the chevron, the zig-zag or embattled frette, *hatchet, nebule, star, rope, beak-head, dog-tooth.
1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 85 This their digging or *hatchet work they help out by fire..making the inside of their Canoa hollow. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps i. §10. 20 Choose..the Norman hatchet work, instead of the Flaxman frieze and statue.
Hence hatchet v. trans., † (a) to cut with a hatchet; (b) transf. to act as a hatchet-man against (someone), to do down.
1603Florio Montaigne Ded., I..serve but as Vulcan to hatchet this Minerva from that Jupiter's bigge braine. 1700S. Parker Six Phil. Ess. 36 A large stump of a Tree..hatcheted into an Elbow Chair. 1959‘B. O'Brien’ Operators & Things (1960) i. 34 Even the Knoxes were willing to hatchet each other. |